Taliban have established at least 24 jihadi madrassas in Panjshir province, many of them in former girls’ schools that were closed after they retook power, local sources told Amu.
The largest of the schools is in Dashtak village, where about 300 students have graduated in recent months, the sources said. Another well-known center is the Bibi Amna school in Bazarak, the provincial capital.
Sources said Taliban have turned closed girls’ schools into jihadist centers because the facilities are inside villages and easy to use for recruitment.
“So far, 24 jihadi madrassas have been built. Around each main center, five or six more schools are established,” one resident said on condition of anonymity. “Most of them are in former girls’ schools, because they were shut down and are the best available locations.”
Students and locals described the curriculum as Taliban-centered and extremist, focused on religious indoctrination and anti-Western narratives. “The teaching is ideological and fully Taliban-oriented,” one student said. Lessons include loyalty pledges to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and portray Afghanistan’s past 20 years as a period of “infidelity,” the sources said. Students are taught that the Taliban “rescued” the country.
Critics said the schools are being used to build a pipeline of future Taliban fighters. Some graduates have been directly recruited into Taliban ranks, while others — including teenagers — have reportedly been forced into military activities. Residents said many teachers are Taliban members, and movement around the schools is tightly monitored.
“One of these schools has already produced two graduating classes totaling more than 300 students, and enrollment continues,” another resident said. “Young people are being drawn in and taught Taliban ideology, including opposition to the previous government and its politicians.”
Sources said the schools place heavy emphasis on military-style training alongside religious lessons. “Most of the courses are military,” one local source said, adding that young recruits are instructed to treat Akhundzada as their leader and to adopt hostile positions toward Western countries.
Students told Amu they are taught that Afghanistan under previous governments had “turned toward infidelity” and that Taliban rule has brought “salvation.”
Human rights activists and analysts say the Taliban have spent the past four years steadily expanding such jihadi schools as part of long-term plans to recruit and prepare future fighters.
Taliban have not publicly commented on the reported expansion of jihadi schools in Panjshir.
